


The Ambassador of Athena

by Flysch



Series: The Ambassador [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Adventure, Drama, F/M, Friendship, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-09-23 22:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9680795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flysch/pseuds/Flysch
Summary: A mortal is thrown into the world of Gods and Monsters, and besides a Prophecy he also has to worry about his Ex-girlfriend, who happens to be a daughter of Athena...A story about coping with breakups, about friendship and the sad reality of death.





	1. How I insulted a Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> I first published this story at a different Fandom Page, and now, after more than 2 Years, I rediscovered it and decided to publish it here too. Updates will come at least weekly, if not more often, since the whole story is already complete.

Usually every good story starts with something unexpected. But my story started with an event I was looking forward to: The last presentation for my diploma in Ancient History.  
But first let me introduce myself: My name is Florian, 25, and I studied history in Innsbruck, a small university town in Austria, Europe. In case you wonder why this story is written in English rather than in German, it will be explained later.  
I was born in Schruns, a small 4000 inhabitant town in a valley in the middle of the Alps. After high school I decided to make my passion my job: I was fascinated by Greek and roman mythology ever since my preschool teacher told us the story about Heracles and the Nemean lion. And that day was the last day of my studies, the day when my presentation decided about my future.

I was a bit nervous and clenched my hands, sitting on the benches outside the room. The door opened and a pale-looking guy with greasy black hair peeked out of the room.  
"Number 47; please come inside to the council."  
That was me, so I stood up, grabbed my case and the small statue I've brought with me as an example and squeezed past the guy in the room. It was built like an auditorium, with a stage in front and benches facing it. In the first row a couple of elderly people, the council, sat in front of a long table, paper and pencils in front of them. Beside them a few other people decided to listen to my presentation, around 7 other students sat in the back rows. I put the statue on a table on stage and uncovered it. It was a replica of the Athena Parthenos, the statue that once stood at the Acropolis. An elderly guy, one of the council members, stood up and said:  
" You are here to present us your researches about what topic, Mr..."  
"Just Florian, Sir" I insisted. I didn't like my last name, and I will not mention it here.  
The old man smiled. "Ok, Florian. What is your topic?"  
I cleared my throat. "My topic is called "Questioning Athena" The old man raised an eyebrow. "That sounds interesting. Please, enlighten us why you have chosen that topic." I recognised he wore an anchor and seahorse-patterned tie, but I already knew some of the professors were quite eccentric, especially historians. "The purpose of my presentation is to show that the goddess Athena in a different light; assuming the old myths are true and the Greek gods were real." The council started taking notes, but that didn’t bother me: I was in my element, so I continued. " I will start with an old story about Athena and Poseidon, who was arguing about who will become the new patron of Athens. They agreed on letting the citizens decide between them, so each of them made a present. Poseidon created a salt water well and Athena the first olive tree. The Athenians choose Athena as their patron, but the goddess now made the mistake of being too proud. She should have offered Poseidon a partnership with her to make the Athenians the wealthiest and most powerful town in Greece by combining their forces and presents. Due to the fact that salt was very rare in ancient times and even called the white gold the Athenians could have earned a fortune just by extracting the salt from the well. But Athena was too proud to make that offer, and so Poseidon destroyed the well and started to dislike the goddess." Everyone in the room now paid attention and so I continued with my presentation. I listed some more stories when Athena didn't prove her wisdom and acted proud and unwise, sometimes even foolish, not seeing great opportunities. After one and a half hours I came to an end, the council thanked me and told me I would receive the results within one week. I have been the last student to present his work, so everyone left. When I left the room a woman waited for me outside. She looked around 20, had black curly hair, bluish grey eyes and a pretty face with full lips that looked southern European. She wore Jeans and a grey shirt with Greek letters on it that read: "National and Kapodistrian University of Athens" I've had Greek and Latin as a subject in school and visited classes at university for my studies, so I had could decipher the letters. The woman scrutinized me, and then she said with a slight Greek accent: „I really enjoyed your presentation, Florian. It was... different from the general opinion." I've been astonished. "Thank you, Miss...?" She laughed, which sounded clear and light to me. "Just call me Palla. I am a Historian myself; I work for the Greek Cultural Ministry as an expert in mythological interests. I'd love to talk with you more about your presentation, so..." She looked at me as if she wanted something, and it took me a few seconds before I realized she wanted me to ask her for her number. "Oh, sure, it would be a pleasure for me. Just give me your number and I will call you." She smiled, pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down a row of numbers. She handed me the paper, said goodbye, turned around and disappeared around the corner. When my best friend Clemens came out of the presentation room and asked me what happened I woke from my daze. I told him, and he laughed and tapped me on the back. "It's nice that you finally came over Johanna, after all those years..." I could resist the urge to punch him in the face and managed a smile. The story of how she, the sister of my best friend, has dumped me after 8 months of happy relationship for no good reason still haunted me. "Yeah, it's cool" I said with a rough voice. Clemens laughed one more time. "See you tomorrow at lunch." he said before he left. After a few seconds I pulled myself together and turned around to, heading back to my downtown apartment, still astonished.


	2. An offer I cannot resist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chapter, slightly modified. Reading this after two years makes me realise how bad my English was then ^^ Enjoy

Long story short, I met Palla several times, and each time was great. I've never met a person with that kind of knowledge about Greek mythology. It seemed to me as if she really knew what happened in ancient times.  
When I mentioned that to her she laughed and said "Who knows? Maybe I've been there?" Her serious expression made me laugh, and she joined me instantly.  
I was fascinated by her knowledge and general intelligence, she reminded me of my ex-girlfriend. Maybe that was the reason why I couldn't start dating her. She gave me pretty obvious hints about what she wanted from me, but I, well, I friendzoned her. She didn't seem upset or sad, but I am bad at reading people, so I wasn't sure about that.

After a week, as promised, the results arrived. Palla and I were sitting on the couch in my small apartment and talked about the latest Tristan McLean - movie (that guy seemed to like Greek history, since it was the third movie about greek mythology by him, this time co-starring his daughter) when the doorbell rang.  
When I opened the door the postman handed me an envelope with a stamp from the University on it. I must have looked concerned when I returned to the living room because Palla smiled at me encouragingly and said: "Come on, open it. The results will be great, you'll see" I shrugged my shoulders and opened it. I unfolded the letter and read out loud:

"Congratulations!

The Historian Council of the University of Innsbruck has come to the decision that your researches and your presentation were more than enough to allow us to accord you the title Dr. rer. hist. and the International Title: PhD hist.  
Furthermore you have been elected as a member of the next archaeological project at Ithaca, where evidence for the existence of the palace of Odysseus on Mount Athos is searched by a team of our University. If you accept our offer, please inform us about your decision. You would travel to Ithaca in two weeks as an expert in ancient Greek mythology and language to assist the archaeologists at the excavation site on Mount Athos. The salary is negotiable, but the minimum wage is at the international standards at 5000$ a week including travel, accommodation and food. The maximum duration of the excavation project is 3 weeks, if any positive results are found benefits are ensured.  
We hope you consider our offer and help us with your remarkable knowledge about Greek mythology to understand the history of this special place.

In the name of the council and the University of Innsbruck, 

Dr.rer.hist. naut. Paulus Neparus"

After reading the letter I was astonished. I am now a Doctor in history, and even more, the University offered me a job at Ithaca, the home of Odysseus. Palla looked at me proud and said "Look, exactly what I said, good news"  
I sat down next to her, and said: "Looks like I am going to Greece soon"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI: I wrote this chapter about 4 Months before the Teaser for the last Book of the Heroes of Olympus Series was released, BoO. In the first Chapter the Crew of the Argo II also visits the Place of Odysseus. You can imagine how suprised I was when the Teaser was released. I have to rewrite the next few chapters, since they will take place there.


	3. A great discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the heavily modified chapter that takes place atop Mount Athos, the place where Jason was (almost) killed. I hope you like it.

The sun and the hot and dry wind made me sweat within seconds after I left the boat in Vathi, the main village on Ithaca. A man picked me up, and thank the gods his car had AC, so the drive up to Mount Athos was not that bad. The driver, a typical Greek with black hair and a black scrubby beard talked with me about the island, the archaeologists and his family. The Island was very small, only about 120 km2, just 3000 inhabitants, 8 villages and many bays and beaches. The rest of the island was covered with woods and rocks, hiding the remains of nearly 4000 years of settlement.

When we stopped, we were at the end of a dead-end road in the middle of the woods. To the right the waters of Afales Bay glittered in the sunlight, to the left the slopes of Mount Athos rose. The driver told me that I had to hike up the mountain to the top to find the base camp of the archaeology team, I couldn’t miss it. So I started walking, and after 5 minutes I was soaked in sweat. The way to the top was rocky, literally, and also very steep. When I finally reached the top I was exhausted, but the view paid for that: There were no trees but one old olive tree, so you had a marvellous view over the whole island. Walls could be seen on the flat top, men and women digging, brushing, drawing, excavating and whatever you do otherwise as an archaeologist. One of them, probably their boss, recognised me and came over to me.  
“Hello, my name is Frank Marsch, and this is our playground” he introduced himself. He was about my height, had red hair and a red moustache. I guessed his age at around 40.  
I introduced myself and asked him: “So what is my job here?”  
He gestured at the walls. “We try to find prove that these walls were once the palace of the famous hero Odysseus” he said “When we first arrived up here the place was littered with torn tunics, broken spear shafts and so on, we had to clean up the whole place. Some tourists must have had a theme party up here, the stuff looked brand new. Your job will be to translate inscriptions and explain paintings we might find, and you can also help us with the excavation work. Our former expert broke her leg when she slipped on the stairs at her home, so you are now our main man” He smiled at me.  
I liked him instantly. He was unlike other archaeologists I’ve met before uncomplicated and funny, but nevertheless a good scientist. Frank led me to a tent where I could deposit my backpack. “In a few days a specialist from the Greek Culture Ministry will arrive here, just in case we find something important. You know bureaucracy.”

So I started my work at the top of Mount Athos. It was not much of a palace up here, a few walls, some Stairs leading up into a non-existing upper floor, and the highlight, a crumbling arch supported by metal bars. In the middle of what used to be the courtyard a circular patch of dirt was burned, most likely from hikers who made a campfire. Excavation pits ran along the south wall, from former expeditions I assumed. Our excavation would take place inside what we assumed the former central Building, or palace. I helped carrying away tons of earth and mud, translated the signs engraved in some pots that only told us the former owner of this house obviously liked olives from Athens and pottery from Crete and helped the woman that had to draw a map of the excavation site to measure the outer walls. The days were spent in that way only interrupted by the meals and, at sunset, the walk to the little hotel on the other side of the mountain. After a week I’ve developed a routine, but it was interrupted by the excited scream of an archaeologist.

“Hey. Come here!” he shouted, and all of us ran over to him. What he found didn’t seemed to be special, just a flat, square stone, but I immediately understood what we saw.  
“A stair” Frank said. And so it was. The rest of the day was spent with carefully digging up the staircase that led downwards. When the sun just disappeared we reached the bottom, where a huge block of stone sealed a doorway. We all were excited, and Frank called the Culture Ministry. They promised that their expert would be in Ithaca by tomorrow at noon, and so it was. When the expert arrived we’ve already prepared a system of ropes, rolls and pulleys to lift the block out of the doorframe. I jumped a little when the expert tapped on my shoulder and said: “There you are”  
It was Palla, of course. She had mentioned she worked for the Greek Culture Ministry and had to return to Greece soon, so it didn’t surprised me when she was our expert. It was mostly her visit in Innbruck that gave her away, she must have been there for preparation talks.  
She looked awesome. Brown Khaki shorts, a tank top and hiking boots, normally not the definition of sexy, but she could look hot even in that kind of clothes. I cracked a smile  
“I’ve expected you earlier” I said. She smiled too, and then gathered the other archaeologists to finally open the door. We all pulled hard, and after a while the block was pulled out wide enough to fasten the claws on top of it. We slowly lifted it out; centimetre by centimetre we pulled it up the stairs till it finally lay on the lawn in front of the staircase. Frank had prepared 3 flashlights and decided he, me and Palla would go downstairs to have a first look at the mysterious discovery we’ve made. He knew here too, they’ve met several times before at excavation sites, so they were joking with me when we entered the room behind the doorframe.

The air in the room smelled dusty and old. The walls, lit by our flashlights, were painted with pictures of gods, beasts and other creatures, but none of them gave us a hint of the owner of the palace. Along the walls the remains of shelves piled up, together with broken amphorae and clay pots. A door led onwards deeper into the basement. We opened the door that was surprisingly easy to open if you think about it that it was closed for almost 2000 years. Behind it was a simple plain corridor with 5 doors. We opened one door after the other. Behind the first one, we found an armoury full with ancient Greek javelins, swords, shields, spears and bows, all in a great condition, behind the second stood an iron loom, the remains of its last work still in the frame, and a bedframe with only three posts left leaned against a wall, the third door led to something that must once have been an ancient bathroom and the fourth door revealed a room full of scrolls and clay plates. With every door we got more excited. These rooms held more of ancient artefacts than ever discovered in one place before, and when we discovered the scroll room Frank looked as if he’d start to cry. But behind the last door we found the jackpot:  
A life-size statue of a woman in full Greek battle armour with helmet and shield at her feet with stretched-out arms that held a bow and quiver full of arrows, obviously made of bronze stood on a pedestal that read in ancient Greek: “The bow of Ulixes”  
We stood there in awe, till I finally said: “We’ve found it; this is the palace of Odysseus.  
We just started to examine the statue when a scream from outside interrupted us, followed by a horrible bellow as loud as a jumbo jet.


	4. Pork and Cigars

We quickly ran back outside, up the stairs, and when my eyes readjusted to the hot Greek sun we saw the reasons for the scream and probably the causer of the bellow:  
A huge boar, at least the size of a small car, stomped through our camp. The archaeologists ran around in panic while the boar started to demolish our camp. Pieces of our equipment, artefacts and tents flew through the air. Within seconds all archaeologist were running downhill, Frank quickly following them. Palla and I stood at the first step and looked at the beast in terror. I didn’t felt the urge to flee or run away, I just wanted to shut my eyes and let this all be a dream. Not the skills of a survivor, but anyway, the boar recognised us and bellowed again. This time I was sure he made the sound and not a plane crash-landing on top of me. It lowered its head and charged for us.  
“Quick, back downstairs!” Palla yelled and we both dived for the doorframe. I hit my knee on the ground pretty bad, but at least I wasn’t crushed by the boar that now stood on top of the stairs and gleamed with small, mean eyes down to us. It was too big to fit the stairs, so we were safe here.  
“The bow”   
I looked around. “Have you said something?” I asked Palla. She shook her head.   
“The bow”  
Again, there was a voice. I must have hit my head too when I started to hear voices that didn’t exist. Then I heard the voice again.  
“The bow, you moron”  
This time I was sure I’ve heard the voice, and I really had to go to a doctor because I now listened to the voice and went for the weapon chamber. Again not the skills of a survivor, I guess i had my heroic 5 Minutes a day. Palla stayed back in the entrance room, leaned against a wall, her eyes closed. Every weapon I could find was too old to be useful against a 20 ton monster with tuskers as long as my arm, so I decided I had to try it with the bow that looked the best in shape: Odysseus bow

I carefully peeked over the edge of the staircase where the boar was, the bow in my hands, an arrow ready. I’ve been amember of an archery class for a few years now, but with the little time I had besides my studies it was more of a distraction than a dedication. But I had no choice, because the boar stopped eating our supplies, including the locked chest in which we stored it and turned around. It bellowed again, and I thought that this sound must be a good ringtone, loud and annoying. I inserted the arrow and aimed at the monster. The bow was easy to draw, even easier than those high-tech compound bows we used back at home. The beast fixed me with its gleaming red eyes and stomped a hoof. I had no time to wonder why a 3000 Year old Bow could be drawn that easily, or why i felt like I knew exactly what to do, because it charged, I took one last deep breath and let the arrow fly.  
I must have been better than I thought, or I had really tough luck, because the arrow hit the beast between its eyes. It was still too fast to stop before me, and I ducked to get ready for the impact. But nothing happened. When I opened my eyes again the boar had dissolved into a pile of golden durst that was blown away from the wind, the only remains the two tuskers. I was completely astonished. First when I heard the voice again I lowered my bow:  
“Great. I knew you could do it.”  
I turned around and saw Palla standing behind me, but she must have found a costume rental down in the catacombs. She now wore a long white dress, and over it a bronze breast plate. In her hands were a shield and a spear, on her head a helmet with a red plume. Before I could say something a new sound caught my attention. I looked around till I found the origin of the sound: A long, narrow… bronze Cigar flew over the woods directly in our direction. I really must have hit my head, because all I knew was that cigars were not bronze and could definitely not fly.  
When it came close I could see it better: The tip was made of glass, and on its side were oars that paddled through the air. The other end was shaped like a cross with fins, probably for better aerodynamics. It came to a stop directly over the remains of our camp, a part of the hull opened and a rope ladder was lowered down to us. Two figures climbed down; as soon as they touched the ground they drew two swords. I had no idea what was going on, but I was frozen anyway, I couldn’t even move a bit. The two figures were girls, both looked around my age. They quickly searched the surroundings and then sheathed their swords. When they walked over to Palla and me I could look at them more closely. One of them had blonde, long hair that fell loosely over her shoulder. Her grey eyes were fixed at Palla next to me, her expression something between astonishment and uncomfort. The other girl was totally different: Shorter than the other one, with cinnamon hair braided over one shoulder and dark almond eyes, her expression calm and interested. They both wore sneakers, jeans and an orange shirt with a Pegasus on it that read “Camp Half-Blood”.  
I had no idea what to say, but thankfully Palla took that part for me.  
“Girls, it’s nice that you made it here in time!” she said and smiled. The two girls bowed shortly and the blonde one said: “Mother, it’s surprising to see you here.”  
Palla laughed. “My daughter, you know I am the patron of all heroes, and this one doesn’t know that he is to become one - yet. He will not do things as great as his ancestor, but he will make a good bowmen with enough training. Without help from camp he has no chance to fulfil his upcoming quest. Take him to Pythia, she will tell you more about it.”  
To me she said: “You have proven the worth of your heritage, Florian. Not every hero could have killed the Erymanthian Boar. We will meet again.”  
And with that she dissolved into thin air. Now I was finally convinced I must have hit my head and was hallucinating now. “Great, my mother at her finest” the blonde girl muttered. She mustered me. “So you are the person we need to save Olympus, again I have to say? You don’t look like much to me.” I opened my mouth to insist, but she cut me off by saying: “We better hurry, I have no idea which monsters are around here beside that boar, and I have no urge to find it out.” She looked around a bit. "And up here bad memories come up." She walked back to the rope ladder and started to climb it. The other Girl looked around more interrested. *So this is the place he wanted to return to... Interesting." Her look was a mixture between amused and sad. "Well, that was 2700 Years ago, I guess I have to get over him. Besides..." She looked up to the hoovering Cigar "I've found someone that really came back for me." I was stunned, but she seemed to talk to herself, and waved me to follow her, so I hung the bow over my shoulders ,fastened the quiver to my belt and started to climbed up the ladder to. I stopped after a few Meters, and decided to jump down again, pick up the tuskers the Boar left behind, and climbed up again. I felt that they were mine now, and that they would make a great wall decoration back at Innsbruck.  
At the top of the ladder a boy helped me in, on his face a broad smile. “Welcome to the jungle” he said. “Oh, just shut up Leo” the blonde girl said, but she smiled too. While the boy helped in the brown-haired girl I looked at him closer:  
He wore an orange shirt too, together with an old army jacket and trousers hold up with suspenders. His black curly hair looked like it really needed a cut. His brown eyes sparkled when he helped the girl into the ship. She smiled at him and gave him a short kiss, then she hit a button at the wall and the ladder was pulled up and the hull closed again.  
“I’ll quickly set the autopilot on home, I’ll join you for lunch in a few minutes” Leo said and darted of through one of the doors. I finally could ask a question that flew through my head since the cigar appeared: “What the hell is going on here?” I said. Both girls looked at me, and the one with brown hair said. “Sorry, we were a little bit rude. We didn’t even introduce ourselves.” She pointed at the blonde girl. “This is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and I am Calypso, daughter of Atlas.” I had a faint idea of what she was talking about, but it couldn’t be true. She continued “The boy is Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. And this is the Nautilus, our high-speed flying submarine.”  
Now I was completely confused, but I could manage to ask the next question:  
“And where are we going?”  
This time this Annabeth-girl answered:   
“We are going to Long Island, New York, more precisely to our Home, Camp Half-Blood”


	5. Information Overload

When I lay in the bed in room they told me I could sleep in I thought about all the stuff the girl, Annabeth, had told me, about gods, monsters, heroes and other unbelievable stuff. I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that all I have studied the last few years, all the tales about great adventures were actually true, have really lived. I was a little bit surprised how easy I could do that. Somewhere deep inside I’ve always wished that the tales were true, that the fates were actually meddling with the humans; that gods interfered with our future. All I now felt was curiosity. I wanted to talk to gods, study monsters and learn the truth about the heroes.   
While Annabeth told me all that stuff she led me to the dining room of the Nautilus. She was a little bit surprised about how good I could manage the knowledge, but I told her that I’ve studied Ancient History and Myths and I’ve always wished them to be true.  
“Well,” she said” You were better off when you didn’t know that they were true. The monsters will now be attracted by your scent. It’s a wonder you have survived so long, we’ve never found a demigod that old before.” I was a little puzzled. “I think that I am not a demigod, definitely. At least if your definition is the same as the one I know, one Parent God, one Mortal” Now Annabeth looked confused, but she nodded. “Our definitions are the same, but Percy told us that in his dreams he was told to look at the top of Mount Athos, for a person that will be important to save Olympus. Since I have been here a few years ago and Calypso wanted to visit the Ancient Lands we were chosen to come here. And Leo is the only one that is able to fly this thing he was the logical third hero. I assumed you must be a demigod.” She looked at me more closely. “Are you sure you are not a demigod? No missing parent, no stepfather or stepmother?” I shook my head. “Nope, definitely the son of my parents, I’ve been told that a lot.” Annabeth shrugged her shoulders. “There is an easy experiment to find out” she said and pulled out a bronze dagger. “Now take the weapon and touch the tip” she told me. Now it was my turn to be confused, but I did as she told me. To my surprise my finger just passed through the dagger, as if it was just a hologram.   
“You really are a mortal” Annabeth decided and took the dagger back.   
“What is that thing made of?” I asked fascinated.   
“My sword or the dagger?” she asked back and pointed at her white sword that hung by her side.   
“Both”  
“My sword is made of a splinter form the rib of the Maeonian Drakon, the dagger is made from celestial bronze. The metal is only dangerous to monsters and demigods; it ignores mortals and passes right through it. Your bow is made of the same metal.” She pointed at the weapon I’ve leaned against the wall by the door.  
“But why can I hold it then?” I pointed at the dagger. “May I?”  
Annabeth looked intrigued, and handed me the dagger, holding it by the blade. I could grab it easily, even by the Celestial Bronze-Parts.  
“Hmm, interesting, obviously this Metal is not able to harm, but can be hold and handled.”  
At that moment Calypso came into the room, four plates flying behind her. I have to admit that I wasn’t as surprised as I should, maybe because I’ve already heard about myths being true and was flying at the moment over the Mediterranean to New York in a submarine made of celestial bronze, a metal that seems to be semi-sentient. The plates landed gently in front of each of us, together with forks, knife and cups. The cups were empty, but Annabeth explained me how to use them.  
“Just tell them what you want to drink, it will fill with it.” She demonstrated it to me by ordering cherry coke, and the cup filled with a brown liquid. I started to like this new life I was thrown into and ordered mango juice, and it was definitely the best drink I’ve had in my life. Leo joined us shortly after and told us we just dived down into the Atlantic Ocean.  
“That is awesome, I didn’t even recognise the diving” I said between two bites of steak. Leo looked pleased. “Yeah, I love the Nautilus like nothing else-“Calypso glared at him and he grinned. “Well, maybe second, or third. Right after the Festus –slash- Argo III and Tacos.”   
He dived under the table so the piece of potato Calypso threw at him missed him. When his head reappeared at the edge he smiled, this time with more feelings.  
“You are out of league, my dear. I could not compare you to anything else. Remember what I did to get you off that island?”  
This seemed to please her, and she went back to her food. I tried to remember the story of THE Calypso, but I didn’t dare to ask her about it. All I remembered was that she was the daughter of Atlas and is punished for crimes she did not commit, and that she had something to do with Odysseus.There is a time for questions and a time for food, and this was definitely the time for food. Leo told me “fun facts” about the ship, how it could fly, was built for fast travel and could carry 4 passengers.   
“I’ll give you a short tour later. By the way, we’ll arrive around noon tomorrow, so we can sleep in. The autopilot will take us right to Long Island Sound. “  
After lunch Leo showed me the ship. It was small, but there was enough space for everything. The engine was at the lowest deck, above the storage room, the kitchen, the lunch room and the bathroom. At the highest deck the living room and the four cabins were located, each with portholes that allowed a great view into the ocean. The oars could be used both above and underwater, and Leo also told me he has installed a new engine, developed together with camp fish-blood. I first thought I have misheard him, but he repeated the name a few times after, so I assumed there really has to be a camp fish-blood.   
The best thing was the commando room at the front of the ship. The whole front was full glass; it stretched over the two top floors, so you had the best view in the ocean. A throne was placed in front of an ancient stirring wheel that read “OSM Nautilus”.  
“What does that mean, OS Nautilus?” I asked Leo. He laughed.  
“Oh, it means Olympic Submarine, the Nautilus stands for Naval Above and Underwater Tactical, Intervention and Lift off Undetectable Ship.”  
I stared at him, but he looked dead serious. Then he burst out laughing.  
“You should have seen your face. But I should engrave that in the hull, it would look nice. It is named after the most famous Submarine, the Nautilus, his captain, Nemo, was a really talented Son of Poseidon”  
He showed me how to stir the wheel, read the location off a screen and, best of all, readjusts the stabilisers, what caused the ship to do a short jump. After the fifth time we did that Calypso stormed into the commando room, her hair wet and wearing a bathrobe, telling us to stop, no one could shower if the ship does jumps every thirty seconds.   
“I guess you found someone at least as childish as you, Leo” she said after a short break. When she stormed off Leo and I burst into laughter.  
“If I didn’t loved her that much she would be a real nuisance, but I guess I have to live with that.”  
I forced a smile. Seeing a happy couple was still hard for me, like it was ever since… Well, you know, I’ve already told you. But thankfully Leo didn’t say anything.

I spent the rest of the day in the living room, talking to the others on the ship, asking loads of questions about monsters, the camp I was going to, gods and everything I could think about. They told me the story about what happened the last few years, the battle of Olympus and the Prophecy of the seven, and I have to admit that caught me off guard. I was speechless, but I admired them. They have lost so much, but were still in such a good mood. I guess you get used to it.  
After dinner we went to bed early, me for my part because I fought a monster today, the others mostly because they could sleep as long as they wish. Thanks to the noise of the water against the hull I quickly fell asleep.

Calypso woke me up. I slept in my clothes, the reason for that was pretty simple: I had no spare clothes because my backpack was eaten by a boar. According to my phone it was eleven o’ clock, that survived by a miracle without even a scratch. I decided to take a shower, and after that and a short breakfast I joined the others at the commando room. I left my Bow and the tuskers in the Room, I would grab them when we arrived.  
Leo sat in the throne, Calypso and Annabeth behind him in chairs that looked like they were stolen from an airplane. I sat between the two girls and fastened my seatbelt.  
Leo turned his chair around and grinned at us. “Thank you for travelling with Leo Travels, we hope you enjoyed your stay. Please hold tight when we travel the last few miles above water and make sure you have nothing loose around you.” I was about to ask him why but Leo has already turned around and hit a button at the control board. The ship shot forward, and the darkness outside became lighter and lighter. Finally I could see a small spot at the sky that grew bigger and bigger, and finally we shot out of the ocean into the sky. But we didn’t come down immediately, we kept on flying upwards. After a few minutes the tip turned down again so we could see the ocean below us, and the shore of Long Island.   
“If we want to land again we should come down faster.” I said a little bit worried. Leo simply laughed.  
“We will not come down here; we will fly over Long Island and land directly in the Sound.”   
And so we did. It was a gentle touchdown, and within minutes we docked at a pier right next to a huge Greek warship, a Trireme. Leo unbuckled his belt and rose. We followed him to the main lock which he opened rigorously.  
“M’ladys” he said and bowed when Calypso and Annabeth left the ship. When I stepped to the exit Leo grinned at me.   
“Nice to meet you” he said and touched his imaginary hat. I grinned too and stepped out into the sun. When my eyes readjusted to the light I could see the crowd that awaited us. Among kids in armour and young adults with orange t-shirts I could see green and blue faces, Dryads and Nymphs I assumed. In front of the crowd stood a centaur, his horse part a white stallion, his upper body bare. His face looked gentle, with curly brown hair, a scruffy beard and friendly brown eyes. Annabeth ran over to him and hugged him “Chiron!” she said. Chiron laughed. “You haven’t seen me for 3 days, how much could you have missed me?” he asked and laughed. He turned to me. “Ahh, here we have our guest. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood.”  
He shook my hand, but before I could say anything a voice behind the centaur said: “Florian?”  
It took me a second before I recognised the girl that pushed through the crowd.  
It was Johanna, and she looked awesome. She wore a sleeveless white shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, around her neck a necklace with an owl as a bead. Her blonde hair was tied back; her blue eyes were wide open. By her side a sword dangled in its sheath.  
That was too much for me.  
Gods, monsters and flying cigars were already pushing me to the edge, but seeing my ex-girlfriend again after years pushed me over the edge.  
I simply passed out, falling sideways on the wooden planks of the pier.


	6. Another offer I cannot resist

When I woke up I prayed that it has all been just a dream and I lay in my bed in the motel on Ithaca. I slowly opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was a fish and ship mobile slowly spinning around. I sat up and examined the room. The furniture was simple, a drawer, a book shelf, a chair in a corner, a picture of a sailing ship on the wall, and a desk under the window. And sitting at the corner of the table was…  
“Palla” I said, mildly astonished. I’ve seen too many things the last day to be surprised. And since she was Annabeths mother and a goddess my astonishment didn’t grew any bigger.   
She wore her usual Jeans and t-shirt, together with a broad smile on her face.  
“Nice to see you again too, by the way” she said and rose. After she sat on the edge of the bed she continued. “I came here to make sure I am the first one to talk to you after you wake up, my hero. First of all I have to admit that I haven’t been honest to you. This is not my true form, my true form is…” Her clothes changed and she wore the clothes and armour she had on Mount Athos again. Her spear and shield were leaned against the bed, the shield thankfully facing the wall. I knew the story about the Aegis-shield and the face of Medusa imprinted on it. “Well, technically this is not my true form, if I would show you my true true form you would burn to dust.” She smiled half-heartedly.  
I cleared my throat. “You are Athena, the goddess of wisdom, crafts and craftsmanship. Like the real goddess from the tales.”  
She nodded. “Yes, you are true. You seem to cope well with the fact that I am not what I seemed to be. Maybe you have heard too much the past few days.”  
I laughed dryly. “You could say that, yeah. But I have one question: Why?”  
Athena’s clothes changed back to normal and she folded her hands.  
“You see, gods have always been known for falling for mortals, some more often than others, some less. Not many mortals catch my attention. You are… something special. You see, I am the goddess of wisdom, I know where intelligence concentrates in a person, but that’s not all. You always were above average, but nothing that would catch my attention. What makes you special is not your intelligence; it’s your wit, your way of thinking. This and your ability to see through the mist, the power that hides everything supernatural from the mortals, made you catch my attention. When I heard about the topic of your presentation I had to see you.”  
I must have looked pretty shocked and terrified too, because Palla quickly comforted me. “Oh, don’t worry; I’ve decided not to turn you into a rodent or a plant. I watched your presentation, and I have to admit you were right, at least in some points. If you’d knew the whole story you may not think this way, but all in all your presentation showed a part of me that I hate to admit it exists the self-loving, egoistic part that likes winning and hates loosing. I’ve turned Arachne into a spider, which was a great mistake, later on she took revenge and kept my sacred statue hidden for centuries and killed several of my children. I should have admitted that she was equal to me, and nothing would have happened. Your presentation really impressed me; it had proper argumentations, and your ideas about better decisions I could have made really impressed me.”   
She looked a bit thoughtful.  
“There is something with you that makes your criticism and offensive remarks sound reasonable, normally I would just blast you to bits, but instead it makes me feel… strange, as if I should overthink my actions.”  
She blushed a bit as I rose an eyebrow.  
Nevertheless, I was speechless, but I managed to say: “Thank you.” After a few seconds I continued. “It’s nice to get such a compliment from a goddess, but I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that you really hit on me. The goddess of wisdom. Like an actual goddess.”  
Athena laughed. “Well, even though I am a maiden goddess I still fall in love sometimes. And sometimes the result are children” I tried to say something but she seemed to read my mind. “No, we will not have children; our encounters were never that… mentally close. I am still a maiden, the way I get pregnant is… more difficult. But I still have children like Annabeth and Johanna, your former girlfriend.”  
Another surprise that made my stomach twist. I had no time to think about it, but now it seemed logical that the goddess of wisdom was the mother of the smartest girl I’ve ever met. She was brilliant, a genius, much smarter than me. Normally that would have annoyed me, but with her it was different. I’ve loved it when she corrected me, or told me mathematical jokes, or showed me difficult equations. It also explained why she has been half the summer holidays away, now I realised she was at that camp.  
Palla smiled at me. “But this is not why I came to you. I came to you to tell you the following:  
You are the descendant of the most famous mortal hero of ancient times, one without godly parents, the conqueror of Troy, the lord of Ithaca…”  
It took me a moment to piece together the facts, but when I did I was – again – speechless.  
“You tell me that my great-great-great-great-great-whatever-grandfather is Odysseus, like, the guy with the horse, and his travel, like, the real Odysseus?” I asked, my voice shaking. Palla nodded.  
“You are a descendant of Telemachos, son of Odysseus and Penelope, and you are the latest figure in the game of fates. When it comes to your part in this story you will know what to do, even if you now have no idea what to do.”  
“Sounds ominous.” I managed to say, and Palla laughed again.  
“Oh, don’t worry, I will guide and assist you, like I did with all great heroes in the past. I’ve let down some recently; I also have a feeling that you will need me in the future. “  
She rose again, and her armour reappeared.  
“I have one last present for you.” Athena said “If you are willing to accept this gift I will make you my Ambassador, the Ambassador of Athena. It will open doors for you, and it will allow me to help you more directly. So, do you accept the blessing of Athena and become my ambassador, the ambassador of wisdom?  
I rose too, not sure what to do. I have accepted the fate of never having a normal, boring life again at the moment Annabeth told me that the whole Greek Mythology was real, and I saw no way out of this mess.  
So I kneeled down in front of her and said: “I accept your blessing, Mylady”   
Athena laid her hands on my shoulders, and my right one suddenly started to burn. After the goddess took her hands away I rolled up my sleeve and looked at the shoulder. An owl was burnt into it, like a tattoo. It looked exactly like the one on the Greek one-euro coin.  
“Prove yourself worth, my dear.” Athena said and kissed me on the cheek. Then she just disappeared and left me with my thoughts.


	7. Arrival at Camp Half-Blood - Take two

Right after the goddess left I sat down on the bed again, but I had no time to think about what had just happened. Someone nocked at the door.  
“Yes?” I asked and the door opened. A woman entered the room, her brown hair with a few grey strays, but her blue eyes still full of life.  
“Oh, great, you are awake my dear” she said “You were out for almost a day.” I rose and smiled. “Well, thank you for hosting me, Mrs…?”  
“Oh, just call me Sally, Sally Jackson” she said and gave me her hand. “I am Percy’s mother, nice to meet you. You are very polite, where do you come from? Chiron just told me that you would stay here until you woke up again. Percy and Annabeth brought you here yesterday.” She kept on gossiping and led me to her living room. In the about 20 meters I learned a lot about the relationship of Percy and Annabeth.  
“… and I hope Percy will ask Annabeth to marry him, better sooner than later.” she finished and urged me to sit down on the sofa.  
“Percy and Annabeth will be here soon, I will bring you tea and cookies.” Sally said and rushed through a door. She nearly bumped into a guy with salt-and-pepper hair and a charismatic smile. “Excuse my wife,” he said and shook my hand “Paul Blowfis, by the way. She is a little bit… crazy about her son dating the same girl for years now and not proposing to her.” I laughed.   
“I can understand her. I would be worrying too”  
Paul now laughed too. “Tell me about it. You are very polite by the way, where do you come from?”  
Again I could not answer, since Sally came back with a tray with tea and cookies, which were by some reasons blue. I thanked her and sipped at my tea. While Sally continued to talk about how gorgeous Annabeth was I examined the room. The walls were packed with pictures of a boy with black hair and green eyes in all stages of life; from a toddler in a bathtub to a young man in a suit arm in arm with a girl I recognised as Annabeth. On other pictures I could spot Leo too, together with Percy, Annabeth and four other teenagers in front of that other ship, the Argo III. When Sally stopped for a second I jumped in and told my story, where I came from, why I was here and why I passed out. The cookies were delicious, and the tea was excellent too. After a while the doorbell rang and Sally answered it. Annabeth came into a room, wearing almost the same outfit she did the last time I saw her, only completed with a brown leather jacket. Behind her a young man entered, wearing jeans, a purple shirt with SPQR on it and a denim jacket above it.  
“Hey, my Name is Percy, Percy Jackson, nice to meet you” he greeted me  
“Nice to meet you too, I am Florian”   
“Well, Chiron was rare with information about you.” Percy said with a smile, but it seemed more suspicious than real.   
“All I know is that my father thinks you are important enough to send 2 demigods and a titan’s daughter across the ocean into the ancient lands to pick up a suspicious person that appears to be you.”  
Sally boxed him in the shoulder.   
“Percy!” she said accusing “Be nice to him. He is such a polite young man, so be polite too. Try to remember how you felt when you were thrown into all that, how confused you were. Don’t doubt him, he will do what the gods assigned him for, they rarely make mistakes with that matters.”  
Percy’s expression softened. “Yeah, you are right Mom. Sorry I doubted you before even knowing who you are” Annabeth laughed. “Oh, I think he is ok, I have talked to him during the journey, and he seems nice.” Her smile just cracked a little before she continued. “And my mother was with him when we picked him up, that must mean something too.” Percy raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s also a first-time, my dad and your mom work together” Sally smiled and said:  
“It seems that your relationship also affects the relationship between your parents.” Percy twisted his eyes. “Mom, come on. Aren’t we in a hurry? We should leave.” Sally sighed. “Well, if that’s the case, you should leave, but take some cookies with you.”   
I have followed the discussion with a smile; it reminded me a lot of my relationship with my mother. 

I followed Annabeth and Percy to the door, Sally handing each of as a bag with cookies. “… and drive carefully!” she called after us when we entered the elevator and the door closed. Percy made a face that I can simply describe as if he had just eaten a whole lemon farm. Annabeth burst out laughing and I joined in. “I don’t know you yet, Percy, “I said, “but you definitely should visit your mother more often. Mine was exactly the same when I stopped visiting her.” Percy glared at me, but Annabeth agreed with me “He is right; you should visit your mom more often. You left her worrying for over a year when we did our last expedition, and now you avoid her.”   
I was not that good with people, but even I could see the fight that was coming here. I thought a second about saying something, but my mouth was already moving:  
“Well, I would avoid my mother too if she would ask me every time I see her when I planned to marry my girlfriend…”  
Both Annabeth and Percy stared at me, and I stared at the door, suddenly uncomfortable. Percy opened his mouth to say something, but thankfully the elevator doors opened just in time. We left the building, and after my eyes readjusted to the light I recognised where I was. “We are in Manhattan!”  
“Of course we are.” Annabeth said “And don’t change the subject. Your mom wants us to marry?” I felt even more uncomfortable when we walked down the sidewalk, but Percy looked even more uncomfortable. “Look…” he said and clenched his hands “I… I really have no idea what to say right now, ok?” Annabeth looked at him, but she just said: “Now you look exactly the same you did when we first kissed. I tell you the same I did all those years ago: Don’t worry, I just want you. Don’t let your mom telling you what to do.” She smiled at him, and Percy looked greatly relieved. “Thank you, Wise Girl” he answered and kissed her gently. We have stopped and I turned away, suddenly thinking about Johanna again…  
Oh, fu… I have totally forgotten that she was also in that camp. The old sickness returned I sadly got used to in the months after the brake-up. That time was not the happiest in my life. It is hard to describe your thoughts and your life after your heart got broken. And now all these thoughts pressed to the surface again. Thankfully Percy and Annabeth stopped making out and turned towards me, both a little bit red in the face.  
“Well, eh…” Percy started and tried a smile. I forced a smile too.   
“It’s ok.” I said “So, where is your car?”  
Now Percy grinned broadly and pulled out a car key with a trident key fob.   
“Right over there” he said and pressed the key. The lights of a dark blue luxury car flashed and my yaw dropped. “You drive a Maserati Grand Tourismo?” I whispered.  
Percy laughed “Told you he would like it. Every European loves cars.” He said and opened the door for Annabeth. She smiled at him and sat into the front seat. “It was a birthday present for his 21st birthday from his father; Poseidon thinks it is funny that the logo of the car has a trident in it.” I stared at him and opened my mouth to say something, but I just said: “Well, nice car” and shrugged my shoulders. “Annabeth burst into laughter.  
“Oh, that’s not just a stereotype; everyone in Europe is crazy about cars, mostly because we have that many good ones.” I said when I squeezed in the back of the car. There was not that much space, but I didn’t care, I was totally fine with riding in that car.   
The car made a sound like a cat purring. “Tell me, Florian, how is it growing up in the ancient lands?” Annabeth asked me when Percy drove us through the downtown Manhattan traffic. “It must be amazing to live so close to everything, like, how long does it take you to get to Rome?”  
I laughed. That was the number one question I’ve got asked when I were in America the last time. “It takes me 5 hours by car, 4 and a half by train and about 2 if you take the plane, not including driving to the airport.“  
“No way!”  
The whole drive to the Camp we talked about Europe and my life there. Annabeth found the best thing I told them that I studied Ancient History and already had a PhD at an age of 23; Percy found the best that my PhD-Work was about insulting Athena. Annabeth said she didn’t found it that great, but she supressed a smile when she said it.  
“We will arrive at camp in a few minutes; we will first take you to Rachel.” Percy said   
“Who is Rachel?” I asked.  
“Oh, Rachel is the new Oracle of Delphi” Annabeth answered.  
“What else” I mumbled and leaned back in the seat.  
Percy must have heard her, because he explained me that Rachel became the Oracle a few years ago, she now lived in a cave with Wi-Fi and something with a blue plastic hair brush of death that I didn’t quite understood. He started talking about the Titan Kronos, a story I had the 15 minute summary at the journey to America, and now I learned more about it, how he travelled across America just to save Annabeth from the Titan Atlas and carried the sky for a few minutes. He just started to talk about a guy called Luke when he pulled over right next to a big hill. “Here we are, Camp Half Blood” Annabeth announced. I looked out of the window, but beside the beautiful nature of Long Island in the late afternoon sun I saw nothing that looked like a Camp for teenagers wielding swords.  
Before I could ask Annabeth pulled a remote out of the glove compartment and pointed it at the hill. To my astonishment a part of it just lowered itself into the ground, revealing a tunnel lit by torches at the wall, big enough to let even a SUV pass. Percy drove the Maserati into the tunnel which led to an underground parking lot for 10 cars. 3 of them were already taken by trucks that read Delphi Strawberry Service. Percy parked the car next to a door and we all left the car. We climbed the stairs to the basement of a house that was stuffed with what looked like the memorabilia of Heracles himself: Talons, feathers, skins of mysterious animals and other indescribable stuff were piled in shelves along the walls.   
“What the heck?” I said and examined a long claw with something that looked suspiciously like dried blood on the tip. The tag attached to it read: “Manticore Spike, Bar Harbour, Maine”  
“You will have enough time to look through our collection later, first you have to meet Chiron, Mr. D and Rachel.” Annabeth told me “Come on.”

The sun outside the house was warm, a typical day in June. On the porch a table was set with a card game, 4 persons sitting around it. I could spot Chiron, this time his horse part was inside a wheelchair that looked way too small for it, but I stopped wondering right after I saw a car-sized boar eating a full tent without even blinking. Next to him a girl with red hair and freckles sat, wearing the obviously really fashionable orange shirt and hot pants, her bare foot tapping excited on the wooden planks. Facing her on the opposite site of the table sat a satyr, his horns pointing out of his curly brown hair. He wore cargo pants that stopped at his knees and showed his hooves, his shirt read “Kiss the Satyr”. The last guy at the table was the worst looking too: His orange and blue Hawaii-pattern shirt was stained with brown stains, his eyes bloodshot and his expression as if he had bitten into a lemon.  
“Oh, come on, you can do better than that, Ramona!” he said when we stepped by. “Rachel” the girl said absent and put down some cards. That must have been a good move, because the guy in the Hawaii shirt now looked shocked. “What, you… what?” he stammered. Chiron and the Satyr laughed, and then they noticed us.   
“Ah, Florian, you are back.” Chiron said and rolled over to me. “I want you to meet Rachel Virginia Dare, our Oracle-“ the girl smiled at me and nodded “Grover Underwood, the Lord of the Wild-“ the Satyr nodded too “And Dionysus, the god of wine and parties” The man in the Hawaii shirt mustered me and simply said. “Well, this one doesn’t look like that much trouble than the last one.”  
Percy looked offended. “Does he mean me?” he whispered to Annabeth.   
Chiron looked at them now.   
“Percy, Annabeth, what if you could join Mr. D and Grover here so Rachel, Florian and I can go inside and have a talk?” Percy wanted to say something, but Annabeth kicked him and he just said: “Yeah, sure, we can do that.” Chiron smiled at me.   
“Great. Now, let’s go, or roll in my case”


	8. I get my own Prophecy

Chiron led us to an office in the ground floor, on the backside of the house. It was decorated with pictures of campers, next to a desk a boom box stood on a drawer, a huge collection of CDs next to it. I could see some CDs of Eros Ramazotti and Luciano Pavarotti, so I guessed he must like Italian style music. Chiron rolled behind the desk and smiled at me.  
“So, Florian, you are our mysterious guest everyone was anxious to meet. Annabeth told me already that you have no godly parents, so you are a mortal.”  
I nodded.  
“Yes, and according to Athena my ancestor is Odysseus, somehow” I said.  
Chiron raised an eyebrow. “When did you meet Athena?”  
I told him about my encounter with the goddess this morning, and after I finished he looked a little bit concerned.  
“It has been millennia’s since a god made a human his ambassador, the last one was Lucius Macedonicus. Zeus received a prophecy that told him he was the key for the survival of the gods, and Zeus assumed he would help the Greek to fight back. Zeus made him his Ambassador to help him to fulfil that prophecy. But he was a Roman, he fought the last Greek, or Macedonian king and defeated his troops which meant the end of the freedom of Greece. But it also made the Gods fully Roman; their former Greek side became Roman now. After that the Gods were to… concerned about making anyone an Ambassador, so you are the first one since that.”  
I looked at him for a few seconds and then asked: “But what does that mean that I am the Ambassador of Athena now? I have no idea about that. I have never read anything about it in any myth.”   
Chiron sighed. “Being the Ambassador of a god simply means that… well, you could describe it as a contract. You agree to do something for the god, in ancient times it mostly meant that you deliver messages, tell the people what the gods want or fight their fights on earth, in return they protected you, sometimes if they felt generous they granted you a wish for your service or gave you a special power, but that rarely happened. But most of all, it was a way to circle around the ancient law of no direct interferences with their children and not favouring them. Most of the ancient heroes were the Ambassadors of their parents at the same time.”  
I just had one question: “But what have I done to Athena that she makes me her Ambassador?”  
“Nobody knows, but obviously she thinks it will help you to fulfil the quest that is coming up to you. Percy already told you that we would need you, and Athena proved him right. If Poseidon and Athena work together like that it must be important. And since you are a descendant of Odysseus you are more powerful than a regular mortal with no relation to the gods.”  
I simply had to ask: “What does that mean; I am a descendant of Odysseus. I know what that means in general, but what exactly?”  
Chiron answered me after a few seconds of thinking: “It simply means that your ancestor is Odysseus, and his grandfather was Zeus. Normally only the children of the gods have their favour or special powers, and so it was with Odysseus. As a Legacy he had no obvious powers of Zeus, maybe his great intelligence could be counted as a gift from the gods.”  
The old centaur smiled.  
“He was just a regular mortal, but he is considered one of the greatest heroes of all times. His bow could only be wielded by himself or someone of his blood, and therefore you can wield it too.” He put a pair of vembraces on the table and gestured me to take them. I had no clue what that meant, but I took them anyway. They were nice, made of that special bronze, celestial bronze, and it felt warm. Each was engraved with a beautiful Greek warship, fully detailed with the oars, shields, helm and the eye on the hull. Beneath them a Greek letter, a Ο, Omicron, was engraved.  
“What are these?” I asked Chiron.  
“Put them on, they are yours.” He answered. I did so, and I have to admit that they fitted perfectly.  
“Now put two of your fingers on the Ο” he continued. I hesitated for a moment, but then I did so. The letter started to glow, an a second later I held the bow I recovered from Mount Athos in my hands, the quiver strapped on a belt with a belt buckle that had the ship engraved.  
“Wow!”  
Chiron smiled. “Your own magical weapon. It was Odysseus bow, a bow that once belonged to the great Heracles himself, handed over to Odysseus father when he died. The quiver was a present from Hephaestus, it has an endless amount of arrows, and it even produces special arrows if you need them.”  
“Like explosives or poisoned?!” I asked him astonished.  
Chiron nodded.   
“Even the most feared arrows ever known to mankind, the arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra.”  
“That is amazing. Thank you, Chiron.” I examined the bow and found the Omicron on the tip and touched it with two fingers. The bow and quiver changed back into the vembraces around my wrists.  
Chiron smiled. “Well, it is your inheritance, it belongs to you.”  
Rachel cleared her throat and we both looked at her. She had been silent the whole conversation, but now she looked at me and asked: “I am curious, where do you even come from? What did you do back there?”  
Chiron looked at me and nodded, so I answered her  
“Oh, I come from Austria; form a small town in the middle of the Alps. Concerning what I did, I just finished my studies in Ancient History at Innsbruck and started to work for the University.”  
Rachel looked interested. “I’ve been in Austria once, a skiing trip at the Arlberg. Is that close to where you live?”  
“It’s technically right behind my house.”  
Chiron didn’t interrupted our small talk, he just contributed by saying: “Ahh, Austria. The gods have been there for almost three hundred years, when the Holy Roman Empire was at its zenith. Camp Half Blood was located close to the Lake of Constance around that time, wonderful times…” He seemed nostalgic about that, and I suddenly had the image of him wearing a wig like Mozart, his horsetail braided and had to laugh.  
We talked a bit about my home, how my youth has been; a little bit about University and my life back there. But Chiron soon brought us back to the ground and became serious again:  
“Well, Rachel, I think it’s time for Florian to receive his prophecy.”  
Rachel sighed and sat down in a chair in the corner.  
“What prophecy?” I asked. While Rachel tried to find a comfortable position in the chair he explained it to me:  
“In Percy’s dream Poseidon told him to ‘extract’ a special person from Mount Athos and bring him here to Rachel so he can receive a prophecy about… well, we don’t know, but we will see.”   
At that moment Rachel stiffened and her eyes started to gleam green. I wanted to say something, but Chiron gestured me to listen. Rachel started to speak with a rusty, harsh voice that echoed somehow, green fog coming out of her mouth. Her words were the following:

Under Rock and Stone away from Light,  
Brought to Safety during the last world-wide Fight,  
A Symbol of Power lost Years ago  
Must be saved by the Heir of the Sailor.  
The wise, the brave and one barely alive,  
One will fall, One shatter and One survive.

The glowing faded and she fell back in the chair, seemingly unconscious.   
“What did that mean?” I asked Chiron. He seemed absent, but he answered me. “Rachel is the new Oracle of Delphi, the spirit of the original Oracle lives in her, and from time to time she gives prophecies to us.”  
Rachel opened her eyes and looked at us. “How was I?” she asked casually. I smiled “Great, do you want to hear what you said?”  
“Of course!”  
I told her, but she looked as confused as I did.  
“Chiron, what do you think about it?” she asked the centaur.  
Chiron rubbed his forehead. “Honestly, I have no idea, but I assume it must mean something bad. This is definitely not the next big prophecy, but it is pretty serious too. I will think about it. Rachel, would you be so kind to show Florian around? And give him one of the houses in New Athens; he has to sleep somewhere when he is here. We have so many spare ones, since most of the campers are either sleeping in their cabins or living at Camp Jupiter permanentely.”  
Rachel got the hint and stood up. “Sure. Come on, ‘Sailor’” she said and smiled at me. I followed her, and when I closed the doors I saw Chiron staring at the wall next to the door.


	9. Sigthseeing at Camp Half-Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, it were stressful two weeks, but now I'm back and updating ^^

Rachel led me outside and past the table with the two demigods, the god and the satyr still playing.  
“I’ll show Florian around and give him one of the new houses, I think the one next to Jason and Piper is free.” she told them when we passed. Dionysus just waved off and said: “Whatever, Ramona, show this Florence everything, and he can have a house too. Why don’t you also give him a car?” I decided to keep any sarcastic comment I had at the tip of my tongue where it was and just followed Rachel.  
“Is Dionysus always that… grumpy?” I asked her when we walked down a paved path to the volleyball courts. Rachel laughed.  
“Actually he has a pretty good day; normally he would have called you by your last name and would even have messed up that.” She looked over to the volleyball courts where some teenagers were playing at the moment. They were pretty good, and just when we walked past the court one player did a 3 meter high jump and slammed the ball so hard it stuck in the sand on the other side. I stopped in awe, and Rachel laughed.   
“Jason, don’t show off! You don’t have to impress anyone here!” The guy came over to us, a grin on his face. He was almost as tall as me, though I am almost 1.95 meters, and that was pretty high. He had blonde hair and blue eyes that sparkled, a pair of glasses on his nose, and when he gave me his hand I got a little static shock. “Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, nice to meet you.” He said with a smile “And sorry for the spark, happens all the time to me, ask my girlfriend.” I laughed.   
“Florian, nice to meet you too” I answered. “You know that that was very ambiguous?”   
Jason laughed too. “Not many get that joke that way, but I tell you something: I mean it that way” He winked at me.  
Rachel boxed him in the shoulder. “Jason, too much information. Be nice to your new neighbour.” Jason looked offended.  
“I am nice, just a little bit joking.” He looked at me “Moving in next to us, huh? That means we have to close the curtains in the future…” He just moved out of the way when she tried to box him again.  
“Jason, stop it! Go and play with your little friends.” He laughed and waved goodbye when Rachel dragged me along with her further downhill while Jason returned to his game.

The next thing she showed me was arts and crafts, a flat building where a few kids at any age between 11 and around college age were painting, making statues out of marble or pottering. They were all more or less talented. Rachel spotted someone and called for her: “Hazel! Come over, I have someone you want to meet!”  
A small girl with cinnamon brown hair and golden eyes came over to us, her hands covered with clay, and even more splashes of clay in her hair and all over her face. “Hey, I am Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto.” She said and greeted me. “Nice to meet you, but I will not give you my hand.” She held up her dirty hand and smiled apologizing.  
“Oh, no problem. I am Florian.” I said and smiled. “What are you working on?” I added curiously. She smiled. “Come on, I’ll show you” She led me to a workbench where a clay pot was just finished. She picked it up and laid it on the ground. I had no idea what came now, but I didn’t expected gold and gems flowing out of the ground and wrapping around the bowl till it was fully covered. Hazel picked it up and looked at it. “I have a hand for precious stuff” she told me while she polished the bowl. “Obviously…” I whispered. Rachel smiled. “Come on, there are lots of other cool things to see, cooler than gold flowing out of the ground” Hazel played offended, but she smiled and waved us off. We returned to the path outside and continued the sightseeing tour.  
We walked past a lake where some kids were paddling with canoes, disturbed by some nymphs that tried to push them out of the boats. We approached a climbing wall, but not a regular I used to climb back at home when the weather was too bad to climb outside. This climbing wall had special features like lava flowing down, for ‘extra challenge’ Rachel said.   
“Oh, and when you are not fast enough the wall slams together.”   
I just looked at it in awe and whispered: “I want to climb it”  
“What?” Rachel said  
“I want to climb it” I repeated louder this time.  
“Normally the first thing newbies say when they see the wall is ‘seriously?’ or ‘You want me to do what?’ not ‘I want to climb it’” Rachel said with a laughter in her voice.  
“May I?” I asked her and set up my best puppy face. Rachel laughed.   
“Go ahead; get burned if you want to. I’ll get a son of Apollo in the meantime”  
I took off my shoes and my socks and looked up the wall. I flexed as I always did when I was about to climb and started to climb up. It was not that difficult. I just had to imagine the lava flows being handles not to use and the slamming being just a time-climb. I guess all that climbing I did at school helped too, I made it to the top without a problem, and there I stood, 25 meters above ground, sitting bare foot on top of the climbing wall enjoying the great view over the camp and the nearby ocean.  
“How are you doing up there?” Rachel called up to me.  
“Oh, just enjoying the view, you know?” I called back, and after a while I asked her: “How am I supposed to get down again?”  
“There must be a rope on the other side, just slide down.”  
When I touched the ground and went back to Rachel she looked at me with a curious smile.  
“You know how impressive that was? I have never seen anyone climbing up the wall that fast on his first try. How did you…?”   
“Oh, I have been climbing for years, I even participated in some contest. Must have to do something with growing up in the mountains I assume.”  
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Well, you are an all-rounder, a sailor, and a climber, what comes next?”  
“Oh, I play the violin too, just besides, and I am also pretty good at sarcasm and irony.”  
Rachel snorted and said: “Just keep on moving, I’ll show you the cabins next.”

The cabins looked not as I expected them to look. Each of the 20 buildings looked different, and I could guess which the home to the children of which god was. The one of Demeter had a roof made of grass tiles, the Hephaestus one looked as if it would stand up and pop out a head and arms any moment, and the one of Tyche looked like a huge wheel of fortune place on a funfair. In the middle a fire pit was surrounded by columns and a roof, with the inscription ‘Ἑστία’, which meant Hestia in ancient Greek, on it. The fire inside was burning, though it was a hot summer day. Rachel walked me down the row of the Cabins and some campers came outside and greeted me. They were from 11 up to my age, and they all stared at me curiously. Rachel first explained who I was and where I came from, but after the 7th time she gave up and simply said: “Chiron will explain it tonight at the sing-along.”

Our next stop was the Arena, a typical building I have seen on my visits in Italy and Greece before. It was simply a round building with arches as the outer wall, and the inside was just a round sand pit with ranks around it. In the sand pit a warrior like one of those you would see in the old movies with a breastplate, war skirt and high sandals with a helmet and a huge plume was fighting against 5 campers at once with a long javelin. They all looked around 15; each wore a breastplate over their orange camp shirts and wielded swords. We watched a bit how the campers tried to bring down the warrior, but with no luck. He always dodged the attacks, ducked under high strikes and jumped over those aimed at his legs. When he recognised us standing at the entrance he just did a simple strike with his javelin and brought down every camper fighting him. While they came back to their feet and pulled off their helmets he came over to us and pulled off his own headgear. The helmet revealed the face of an Asian boy around my age, with black military style cut hair and brown eyes. He looked like a born warrior that could fight a whole army alone, tall and with broad shoulders, and most important, he radiated self-confidence.   
“Hey, I am Frank Zhang, son of Mars” he said and shook my hand.  
“Florian, great to the power of 200 grandson of Odysseus, pleased to meet you.” I replied.  
He raised an eyebrow, a move I have seen often that day, and said: “Cool, your ancestor is really famous. Mine was only blamed for destroying San Francisco.”  
Rachel looked sceptical. “Frank, your ancestor could turn into any animal he wanted to, and you can too, so don’t look on the bad side. And he didn’t destroy Frisco if you remember.”  
Frank laughed. “Yeah, sorry, old habits.”  
I was confused. “Wait, are you telling me you are a descendant of Periclymenus, the Prince of Pylos, the only one of the 11 sons that survived? The one with the bee-complex?”  
Frank nodded and laughed. “Yeah, the one with the bee-complex, though I would not describe it that way.”  
I looked at him curiously, and he sighed theatrically.  
“Ok, I will show you.” He said and leaned his javelin against the rank next to us. The next moment an elephant stood in front of us.  
“Whoa!” I exclaimed and took a step back. Frank changed into a lion, then a huge dog and finally a cat with black and white fur. “Aww!” Rachel screeched and picked the cat up. “What a sweet cat you are, Frank” The Frank-Cat hissed and tried to escape Rachel’s grip, but she was too strong for him. So Frank changed into a… well, some kind of lizard I don’t know the name of. The lizard dropped to the floor and a second later Frank stood in front of us again.  
Rachel looked offended, but she smiled. “Obviously your number one escape strategy is turning into an iguana.” she said. Frank laughed.  
“It works, doesn’t it?”  
The campers watched the show only mildly interested, I guess they must have seen that kind of show more than once. One of them, a girl with black hair and dark eyes, kept looking at me as if she calculated her chances of beating me in a duel. Before we left and Frank resumed his training I returned the view, but all she did was narrow her eyes and put on her helmet.

Next Rachel showed me the forges, a building that looked exactly how I would picture a forge run by a bunch of children of Hephaestus, lots of chimneys and moving wheels and gears outside. The inside was lit only by the fire of the forges, a few campers working at anvils and workbenches. I could see Leo and Calypso working side by side at a workbench and went over to them. When they saw me they both smiled and turned around.  
“Hey, there you are.” Calypso said. “We were worried what happened to you after your breakdown.”  
“Well, Calypso did.” Leo said, his face black from oil and dust. “I assumed you were ok, and you are.” Calypso looked at him and rolled her eyes. Leo glanced at her and added: “But I was a little bit worried too.”  
Rachel came over to us. “You already know Leo and Calypso I see.” She said with a smile.  
Leo nodded “Jeah, we kind of picked him up in Europe and brought him here, you know?”   
Rachel laughed “Jeah, I know. But I brought him here because he needs a sword. He has his great vembraces that can transform into a bow, but if the enemy is closer than 5 feet the bow is kind of useless.”  
Calypso looked interested. “A Magical Weapon? Can I see it?” When she saw my confused look she explained: “We were trying to remake the shape-changing weapons, but except Thalia’s shield and Percy’s sword, Riptide, we have nothing to study the magic behind it. We haven’t quite figured out how they work, but if you lend us your bow…”  
I understood and handed her the vembraces “Here you are”  
Leo took them and looked over them.  
“How do you do the shifting thing?”  
“Oh, just touch the Ο with two fingers” Leo did, but nothing happened.   
Calypso looked excited. “Ohhh, a genetically coded activator! This is awesome”  
Leo nodded, not as impressed as his girlfriend. “Yeah, awesome. Florian, would you be so kind…?” he said and handed me the vembraces.  
I activated the bow with a simple touch and handed it back together with the quiver.   
“Thanks” Leo said and turned back to the workbench. Calypso smiled.  
“I guess your appointment with the grandmaster Leo is over now.” she said “He now is in the zone.” She gave us one last smile and turned back to Leo. We looked around the forge and Rachel showed me some of the weapons forged here. Just before we left Leo called us back and handed me a sword, a regular Greek, leaf-shaped sword. Into the bronze a few Greek letters were engraved that read, translated of course, my name, Florian. “Wow, thank you” I said while Leo searched for a scabbard under the desk. “No problem buddy.” He answered when he found one and handed it over to me. I strapped the sword to my belt and thanked him one more time. Leo smiled and turned around, examining my bow carefully.

The stables were our next stop. You could hear the horses from outside already, but when we entered the dim building I saw that these were not normal horses. The horses standing in the boxes on both sides of the corridor had wings. “You have Pegasoi here?” I asked Rachel astonished.  
“Not many know the correct plural form of the word Pegasus.” Another voice said behind us. When we turned around I saw a girl around my age coming out of a box behind us. She had chocolate brown hair and looked really beautiful, in a simple, natural way, even though she wore overalls and had horse poop all over her clothes. Her eyes were really fascinating, they seemed to shift colour, from green to blue to brown, all in a constant flow. I knew her from somewhere, maybe a movie? My thoughts were interrupted when Rachel laughed.  
“Obviously our guest is a smartass” she said and boxed me gently in the side.  
“Oh, you are the mysterious guy from Europe that everyone is talking about.” The girl said. She wiped her hand and stretched it out to me. “Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, nice to meet you.” I took her hand and introduced myself. “Florian, my Ancestor was Odysseus. I have heard of you before, weren’t you in that movie, the one about Troy? And this Jason guy form before, I wasn’t sure about him, but wasn’t he playing Paris?”  
She smiled uncomfortably. “Yeah, you know, my father was offered the part of Achilles in the movie, and he thought about introducing me into the “family business” by offering me the part of Helena. I only agreed if my Jason was my Paris too.”  
I smiled back. “I loved the movie. Your dad is a great actor, I think there is a reason he attracted the attention of the goddess of beauty.”   
She blushed, and behind me some girls giggled. When I turned around I saw some really beautiful girls in overalls quickly hiding in a box.   
Piper sighed. “Excuse my sisters; they are always a bit strange when a handsome new camper arrives.”  
Now it was my turn to blush. “Oh, I am not handsome, not at all.”   
Piper smiled. “You only think that because of bad things that happened in the past.” She said.  
I flinched, but she seemed sorry at the moment.   
“Sorry, it’s an Aphrodite-thing; I can sense everything concerning relationships and love.”  
Rachel saved me when she said.  
“Come on Flo, there is only one thing left to show you.”  
“What?”  
“Oh, just your free home in the greatest town in America east of New York, New Athens!”


	10. New Athens

New Athens was impressive, although it was smaller than the name suggested. Rachel led me down towards the sea, following a paved road near the shore. We came by a cliff with huge doors in it, which must have been Bunker 9, the secret base of the Hephaestus Cabin where Leo spent his days and built the Argo III. Just behind the cliff I saw the city: It was built around a hill in the middle of Long Island Sound, connected to the shore with a long bridge. On circles around the central hill buildings that looked like ancient Greek houses were built, all white with red terracotta roofs and bright chalked walls.  
I was stunned.  
“It looks like Atlantis!” I said to Rachel, my mouth wide open.   
She laughed. “Oh, Annabeth thought it might be funny if we’d build New Athens like Atlantis, with channels, and a central Island with two temples for the two patrons of New Athens, Poseidon and Athena. She got the plans off Daedalus’ Laptop, obviously he was involved in constructing the original Atlantis. We’ve got another temple by his Plans on the hill south of Half-Blood Hill, dedicated to all gods, and it’s an awesome concert hall too. Annabeth will give you a tour through it. But first, let me show you New Athens.”

The city was awesome. According to Rachel the central hill and every ring was floating and anchored to the ground so if there was need for more space in the future they just moved them out to the ocean and add another ring. The central hill was beautiful, the two temples standing side by side, statues of each god on a place in front of it, side by side on a pedestal in the middle of a fountain.  
The statues were not classic ones, they looked… I’ll just describe them:  
Poseidon looked like a classic Greek god, with beard and curly hair, but his clothes were different: he wore a Hawaii shirt and Khaki shorts, his bare feet dangling in the water of the fountain. He held a fishing rod in one hand, looking relaxed and smiling. His other hand laid on his a trident, resting next to him, from each tip a flow of water dripping into the pool. Athena next to him looked exactly how I met her: A simple T-shirt, jeans and her hair loosely over her shoulders. She sat cross legged next to Poseidon, reading a book and smiling slightly. An olive-tree branch laid next to her, dropping water from the leaves. It was a beautiful fountain, and beautiful statues, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. They looked like friends, or at least not as if they’d fight each other the next second.   
“Nice statues” I said when we walked around them, inspecting them closely.  
“Yeah, the gods both posed for them, they said it should be a sign of their new peace, a sign of the end of millennia of rivalry.”  
“Cool” I said, and we went on, to the first circle.

The first ring was full of shops, cafes and open places, each with shrines for a god or goddess. Rachel told me New Athens was built for Demigods who wanted to live on the East Coast in a safe haven for them where no Monsters could attack them, just like New Rome on the West Coast. Even some Romans were already living here, many of them working in NYC.   
We walked a full circle, what took us almost an hour, mostly my fault. I looked in every store, from groceries to armour and furniture. The cafes and restaurants were awesome too, each run by a former camper or legionnaire Rachel knew. We shortly stopped by at a pub called “Sword & Shield”, owned by a Child of Ares, Clarisse. She looked as if she could strangle a hippo without effort, but she smiled at us and greeted me.   
“She was only beaten once in Combat, and that was from a sister from her, or quarter-sister, a Child of Ares.” Rachel whispered to me when Clarisse made us a drink. “wYou met her before, she was that girl in the Arena that trained with Frank. I think she comes from Brasil, her name is Monique.”   
After a bit of Smalltalk we continued, just one more stop, a jewellery store run by a guy named Chris that introduced himself as Clarisse’s husband, a son of Hermes. He obviously got a lot of the god-of-merchant part of his father, because after we left I had a new necklace in form of a sail and a new bracelet made of leather with a My “Μ” on it, and I had no clue why I bought them with the last Dollars I had in my wallet. I decided to war the necklace and give the bracelet as a present to my mum.

The second ring was, reserved for the buildings. The town was so small it only had these two circles, so you had a marvellous view of the sea if you had a house on the outer side of the ring. The houses had two levels, and on the first glance every building looked the same, but they weren’t. Each house was slightly different, for example, one of the houses we passed had reliefs of war scenes that looked as if they took place in New York, along with scenes of a busy port and merchants.  
“That’s the house of Clarisse and Chris” Rachel explained as we passed the house. Each house had a garden as big as the house itself, surrounded by a breast-high brick wall. The next house had a stucco of roses and lightning bolts woven to a ribbon that ran around each window and the doorframe.  
“Your new neighbours, Jason and Piper.” Rachel said when we walked past their garden. It was full of roses and bird baths, with a rose arch and a bench right under it. It looked like the stereotypical romantic meeting point from a Hollywood movie.   
“Your other neighbours are Percy and Annabeth, so you live in a prominent neighbourhood.”  
Rachel told me when we stopped at the next house. Percy’s and Annabeth’s house looked pretty nice too, with Greek inscription and frescos of sea animals on the walls, the windows with blue curtains and flowers outside.   
“Here we are; your own house” Rachel said and pointed at the door. I tried to open it, but it was locked.   
“How am I supposed to open it?” I asked Rachel.  
“Oh, it’s a magic lock, invented by Leo and Hazel. Just hold the doorknob and say: ‘I, [insert name and ancestry here], claim this house as my own’, that should be enough.”  
I looked at her for a moment, but I decided not to ask and just do as I was told.  
I grabbed the doorknob and said:   
“I, Florian, heir of Odysseus, claim this house as my own.”  
The change was astonishing: The door changed its colour from simple wooden planks to a light blue, the frescos on the facade changed and now showed scenes from the Odyssey and the garden now had a pool with beach chairs and a sun sail. A miniature bireme floated in the water.  
I was speechless, and Rachel smirked when she saw my expression.  
“Come on, get inside.”   
I opened the door and was astonished one more time. I took no stop and just explored the interior: The walls were painted light blue like the ocean in Greece, the furniture made of dark wood, all light by spots in the ceiling. The ground floor had a big living room with a beamer instead of a TV, which was awesome to my account. The couch was big enough for 5 people; along the walls bookshelves took every space except the windows. The kitchen was right next to the living room, with a huge fridge stocked with fresh vegetables, cheese, fruits and beverages. The stove was right next to a big sink and a kitchen island completed the star-cook kitchen. The dining room was next to the garden, a table big enough for eight people and looking at the pool outside. A sliding door connected it to the room.   
The staircase in the entrance room led to the first floor: A big bedroom with a queen-size bed big enough for three people to sleep. One whole side of the room was glass, looking out on the ocean. A desk was set in front of it, with a comfy looking chair. More bookshelves completed the best bedroom I’ve ever seen. The bathroom was even better. It had a bathtub twice as big as normal ones, made of marble and looking right out on the sea as well. The rest of the bathroom was awesome too, with a separate toilet and a fluffy carpet on the tile floor. 

Rachel has followed me through the house, smiling. Now that I finished my sightseeing tour through my house she said: “It’s nice to see that you like it, I will leave you now. The Magic that creates these houses know exactly what the new owner wants. We’ll see each other this evening again, up to then you have enough time for an activity at camp; I will send you someone to guide you through our activities.”   
I opened the door and said:  
“Thank you for your time and that you showed me around.”  
She smiled and hugged me.  
“No big deal. See you tonight at dinner.”  
And off she was.

I had no belongings to store, so I just wandered around in the house and examined the wardrobes and drawers. I found a stack of orange shirts and jeans in the wardrobe in the bedroom, but besides that the drawers were empty.   
When the doorbell rang I expected the promised guide, but outside stood a guy with salt and pepper hair and a brown cap that read “Hermes Express”. At his side a brown package was floating with small wings.  
“I am here to make a magic removal” the guy said. “And I have a package to deliver, from Athena.” He added and tapped the package with a staff that I just recognised, wrapped around it two snakes.  
“Don’t be too excited, there are no rats inside” a voice in my head hissed. It sounded like one of the snakes said that. One of them snapped at the other one. “George! We really have to do something about your rat-issues.” I heard a voice again. It must have been the snakes, definitely. The snake that has snapped turned towards me. “Excuse my husband; he has nothing in his head except rats. By the way, I am Martha, nice to meet you.” I was startled, but my good manners kicked in. “Nice to meet you” I said and looked at the snakes. The delivery guy sighed.  
“George, Martha, please, we are on duty.”  
He turned to me and said: “Excuse my two co-workers. By the way, I am Hermes, just in case you haven’t figured out yet.”  
I must admit that I had a guess. I bowed and said:  
“Lord Hermes, it’s an honour to meet you.”  
Hermes smiled and said: “Nice to meet you too. I liked your ancestor, even though he could manage to upset me a little. But I made my peace with him in the end. Now, if you could close the door behind you I can start the magic removal.”   
I did as he told me, and when I closed it behind me he drew with his staff, his caduceus I realised, an Eta, the Greek H, on the door. I heard a rumble inside, and after a few seconds the letter vanished.  
“That’s it; all your belongings now should be inside and in appropriate places.” Hermes said and flipped his staff. “If there are any complaints, please Iris-Message my co-workers. I just need a signature here” His staff has turned into a PDA and a pen, and so I signed where the cross was.   
“Hihihi, that tickles” George hissed when I handed the pen and PDA back to Hermes. The god sighed one more time and said: “George, please. How long have we been working together now? Three millennia? A little bit of professionality would be nice.” He changed the PDA back into a staff and signed me to open the door. After I did so the package flew inside.  
“Do you do all your deliveries yourself? I mean, don’t you have minions to do stuff like that?”  
Hermes laughed. “You are the first one that ever asked me that. But to answer your question: No, I don’t have minions to do my job, because I actually like it.”  
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess it’s pretty cool to have such an important job.” Hermes laughed and winked. “It is.” He waved goodbye and climbed into the truck standing behind him. I swear it wasn’t there a moment ago, but I am not wondering about anything anymore. He climbed into the truck and started the engine. Before he drove off he said one more thing to me:  
“Oh, and good luck with your quest, I hope you will make it.”   
Before I could ask what he meant with that he drove off, descending into the sky and disappearing in the distance.

When I went back into the house the next surprise awaited me. The whole house was full of my stuff, from my toothbrush in the bathroom over my clothes all neatly folded in the drawers and the wardrobe to my violin that somehow was in a drawer in the kitchen. All my books from my huge collection were on the shelves, ordered by theme and even better, by language. I started reading English books when I was 15, and ever since then I only read the English originals. On the desk of my bedroom I found my computer, together with all my games. I haven’t played for months due to my work at university, but I found it amazing that even this relict from old times was here.  
When I went to the living room I found my whole DVD collection along with my Playstation, but what hit me really hard was the empty heart-shaped frame on the shelve next to the screen. When I saw it I was speechless. I bought it as a Valentine’s Day-gift for Johanna, I wanted to take a nice picture of us and put it in there. But on Valentine’s Day instead of telling me that she loved me she broke up with me. It was horrible, the worst day of my life.  
Seeing this relict of old times now knowing that SHE was somewhere around her made me feel horrible again.  
Thankfully the doorbell interrupted me. I went to answer the door, and outside stood a really pretty girl, I have to admit that. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, pretty much like Johanna, and wore the regular orange camp shirt along with jeans. This must be the standard clothing style here at camp. By her side dangled a bronze sword, also pretty common around here I guessed.  
“Hey, I am Rachel” she said with a smile. She looked around 20, but I am bad at guessing ages, like, really, really bad.  
“Let me guess: Another daughter of Athena?” I said with a smile.  
“Right. And your personal activity guide too.”  
I laughed. “So, what activities can you recommend to me?”  
She smiled and looked at me.  
“I heard you already mastered the climbing wall, but what about a canoe trip?”   
“Sounds awesome. Let’s go!”


	11. Afternoon Activities with Rachel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chapeter, and Happy Easter

Canoeing on the lake was awesome. The magic removal even thought about my swim shorts and beach towels, so I didn’t had to borrow or buy them.  
I wore one of the orange shirts as a protection from the warm June sun, and so did Rachel over her bikini. We got canoes and set off to the lake. The water was clear, so clear you could see the ground and the naiads playing underwater-volleyball and weaving baskets out of sea grass. We paddled across the lake, Rachel ahead of me. I thought I saw a Greek temple in the middle of the lake, but I had no time checking it.  
“So, Florian, where do you come from?” she asked me.  
I told her what I have told everyone else before, but she wasn’t confident with that.  
“Give me more information. I’ve never been to Europe. How is it to live there?”  
I laughed, but I gave her more information:  
“I grew up in a really small town, at least according to American measurements. It only had around 4.000 inhabitants. My parents own the local pharmacy, the only one in the whole valley, so we were well-off. I visited high school in the next biggest town, this one had 15.000 inhabitants. After High school I went to University, I studied Ancient History. My special looks were on Greek and Roman Mythology. I’ve read every story about the great heroes and the gods.”  
Rachel turned her canoe around and stopped it next to mine.   
“Really? I LOVE stories about heroes. I’ve read everything I could get about them.”  
I laughed. “I am sure you didn’t know that Odysseus really lived on Ithaca.”  
She really looked as if she didn’t know. “No way.”  
I smiled.  
“Really. I helped digging up his palace, that’s how I got here in the first place.”   
I saw her questioning look and laughed. “I’ll tell you the whole story.”  
And so I did. When I finished she looked at me in awe.  
“You really fought that boar all on your own? With no training at all? Impressive”  
I blushed. “I am a member of the archery club at home, so I had a little training.”  
She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders.  
“If you say so. But it is impressive. Many campers here would kill to be in your place, literally. Since Gaias uprising a few years ago the most spectacular events are the horseraces and capture the flag. Even the Apollo-Incident was only a short-lived adventure. Most ‘great’ monsters were killed in the war, the rest is hiding. Not many are coming back from Tartarus since the Doors of Death are closed.”  
I was confused. “Isn’t that good? I mean, it makes life easier for a demigod?”  
She shrugged her shoulders again and said:  
“Yes, of course. But we demigods quickly get bored and want to fight. And there has been no Grand Quest either, so no action.”  
I had an idea and thought about realising it, but first I dismissed the thought. Then I thought a second time about it and came to the conclusion that I had nothing to lose.  
So I put my master plan into effect:  
I tripped Rachel’s canoe with my paddle so she fell into the water. 

Long story short, we ended up both in the water. After a while of fighting each other we both got reinforcements: Percy and Annabeth joined us, though Percy was a one-man army. He crashed down on us on a tidal wave while Annabeth just paddled behind him. When I came to the surface again Percy just sat on the water, literally. His legs weren’t sinking into the water.  
“Cool move Percy” I said and hold on to my canoe. Rachel’s has floated away so she climbed on board of mine, her blonde hair dripping wet and hanging into her face.   
Annabeth rowed next to us and hit Percy softly on the back of his head with her paddle.   
“Excuse my boyfriend, he is a complete show-off. We just came to tell you that you can sit with the Hermes’ or Athena’s cabin tonight at dinner. After everything is explained you may sit with the Camp Staff, but at first it might be the best to show the others that you are one of us. It might seem unimportant for you now, but it is, trust me.”  
I flinched and looked shortly to the shore, but then I caught myself again and said: “I’ll stick with the Athena campers if you don’t mind. I am her Ambassador after all.”  
She shrugged her shoulders. “Ok, then see you in three hours for dinner.” And she paddled off. Percy winked at me and followed here, casually walking on the water after her. If he would grow out his hair and a beard he could compete in a Jesus-look-alike contest.  
Rachel just stared at me. After a second I had to ask:  
“Why are you staring?”  
She slowly shook her head.  
“You know what Annabeth and Percy did? They saved the world. Twice. Maybe three times, or more, but two times they played the main role. They are the celebrities here at camp. They are around the whole time, but only those of us other demigods who knew them before they saved the world again a few years ago dare to talk to them like they are one of us. It’s not like they forced us to do, but after they flew over to Europe and single-handedly saved the world it kind of felt right.”  
I had no idea what she was talking about, and my face must have expressed that pretty good, because Rachel sighed and said: “Look, it’s as if you would come to Hollywood where the stars are living, but they are around you permanently and acting normally. Their old friends from school time are around you too and they act normally towards them, but you can’t, because they seem so outstanding and special. Do you understand now?”  
I did, and I continued her thought: “And I am the stranger from outside who has never heard about the celebrities and acts around them as I would around everyone. I understand now.”  
Rachel looked at me still strangely. “And now that you know what they did you don’t praise them? You don’t think they are superior?”  
I thought a bit about that before I answered.  
“No. I don’t think other about them. My first experience of them was normal, so I will see them as normal, even if they saved the world. It’s not like they are half gods… “  
Ok, this was not the best joke I’ve ever told, not even close to a good one, but it was so silly Rachel laughed anyway, and I joined in. When we finally stopped laughing we have floated over to the pier.  
“Let’s head on to the climbing wall.” Rachel suggested when we climbed on the wooden planks and pulled the canoe out. “I want to see with my own eyes if you are that good at climbing.”

We went directly to the climbing wall, still in our swimming clothes. The sun was burning down, so the wet t-shirts were really helpful with cooling. When we marched up the hill towards the wall Rachel walked by my side telling me how she came to camp first when she was 15, pretty old for a demigod. She said that she isn’t one of the extremely powerful demigods, which is also why she hasn’t had any problems with monsters before she found out that her mother was Athena. Her only power was that she was excellent at school, especially in Maths and Physics, and at the moment she was studying these subjects at the University of New Rome. That reminded me of my best friend back at home, Clemens, who was studying the same subjects at my “Alma Mater”, in Innsbruck.   
“You would definitely like my friend; he is the same kind of freak like you.”  
She looked clearly offended and I worried that I went too far, but when she saw my expression she cracked a smile and punched me in the shoulder.   
“Maybe I will meet him someday. I ever wanted to go to Europe.”  
“Then you have to visit me. If I can go back of course. Clemens is the smartest guy I know; he is definitely the smartest kid of his 3 siblings.”  
She looked curious and asked: “He has 3 siblings?”  
I nodded. “Yeah, an older and a younger brother and a younger sister…” my voice faded and bad memories started to come up. I quickly suppressed them, but I had bad luck.  
“You know, a half-sister of me has three brothers too, and she’s from Austria too. Any chance you know her? She was here before I came here, but she came here every summer. Her name is Johanna.”  
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat before I said.  
“I know, or better knew her pretty well.”  
My voice must have sounded bad, and obviously there were already rumours spreading, because she just looked understanding and mumbled “Oh…” and said nothing more.

The climbing wall still wasn’t that much of a challenge for me. A short warm-up, stretching and off I went up the wall. I was faster than Rachel, but she was pretty fast too. At the top I sat down and looked down to her.  
“Oh, come on, you are better than that!” I called down to her.  
“Oh, just wait till I get up there!” she answered. She made it to the top, heavy breathing and already sweating, even though she wore the wet T-shirt over the red bikini.  
“You are that good as the others were saying.” She said when she sat down next to me.   
“Who do you mean by others?”  
I could swear she blushed and tucked a stray of hair behind her ear.  
“Well, eh, we, I mean the other campers, we decided to kind of follow you and Rachel when she showed you around so we could see what the new one was like…”  
She really looked ashamed, but I just smiled.  
“So, what were your findings?”  
She clenched her hands, but she told me.  
“Well, first the Apollo campers who were playing volleyball described you to us as shy but witty, even quick-witted. Then Rosie, the daughter of Tyche said you were interested and not easy to surprise when you were at Arts and Crafts. Then Marc and Patrick followed you to the climbing wall and saw you climbing it easily. That was very impressive they said. The campers you met at the cabins told us where you came from and the other details Rachel gave them. Then Monique, the Mars-Child, said you looked like someone who has never hold a sword, but with potential. One of the other Fighters in the Arena, Henry, he can judge people pretty good by their physics, an Ares thing, and he said you are more a distant fighter type. The Hephaestus-children you passed at the forges told us you have a magic shape-changing bow together with an even more magical quiver. And finally the Aphrodite-girls said you were cute and handsome with a nice smile…” Now she really blushed. I laughed and asked:  
“What do you think about me now that you have talked to me in person?”   
She didn’t look me in the eyes but she said: “Well, they were right; you are a good climber and are quick-witted.”  
“And am I handsome and cute?” I asked teasingly.  
Her head became even redder if even possible, but I saved her from answering that question.  
“You don’t have to answer that question; I know I am the best-looking guy on the northern hemisphere.”  
She smiled, and then she burst out laughing. “Oh, come on, no one has that high self-esteem.”  
I smiled. “Who knows? Ready for a rematch?”

We climbed up the wall over and over again till the sun started to sink. We first stepped by at the Athena’s cabin so Rachel could change. I expected that it would take her at least half an hour to get changed, but she surprised me when she came out of the cabin after only 10 minutes. I have to admit that I was impressed. She didn’t only change into jeans, white blouse and red Converse; she even combed her hair and dried them, put on a decent touch of makeup, barely noticeable and wore a necklace with an owl on it. I was sitting by the fire pit when she left the cabin and came over to me.  
“Nice outfit.” I said when she stood in front of me. She smiled and turned around one time so I could see her from all sides. I have to admit she looked really good, pretty. I pulled myself together and said: “I have to change too, so come on; I’ll show you my house from the inside.

I told Rachel to make her comfortable in the living room whilst I got changed. I found my favourite jeans in a drawer, but there was no sign of my T-shirts anywhere, so I searched the drawers in the bathroom and the kitchen, but I all I found was toothpaste and pots. So I went in the living room to search there. Rachel sat on the couch, her legs crossed and reading in one of my historic books, one about the Medici-family.  
“Did you know that the Medici were the most-gifted descendants from Hermes?” she said without looking up from the book “They were excellent with money and intrigues.”  
I was rummaging through the drawers beside the door and didn’t look up when I said:   
“It doesn’t really surprise me. They had one of the biggest collections of antiques and were co-founders of the Renaissance.”  
Rachel looked up from the book and looked at me curiously.  
“Why are you rummaging through a drawer in the living room?”  
I didn’t answer and just pulled out my favourite T- shirt I just found under the mass of magazines about history.   
Now Rachel looked more confused than curious.  
“Why is a T-shirt in the drawer in the living room?”  
“Magic delivery. Don’t ask.” I said and pulled the T-shirt over my head. When I finally managed to straighten it down I caught Rachel staring at my shoulder. “What’s the matter?” I asked her. She still stared at my shoulder, so I had to repeat my question. Rachel shook her head and whispered: “That’s her owl on your shoulder, isn’t it?”   
Now I was confused, really confused. “Which owl? Athena’s?” I asked her, and she nodded.  
“Yes, it is Athena’s owl. I am her ambassador.”  
Rachel’s jaw dropped. “You are the Ambassador of my mother? No kidding?”  
I shook my head and showed her the owl again. “It’s not like I mentioned it before, but yes, I am, but I have no idea what that means.”   
Rachel laughed, and it sounded a little bit hysterical. “Oh, it just means you are chosen from the goddess of wisdom. You have great power here at camp. Your word counts as if the goddess herself would say something. The whole Athena cabin will stand behind you and follow your lead if they find out who you are. They will fight for you, they will listen to you, but most of all they will look up to you.”  
I made a face and said: “Ok, now I am a little bit concerned.”  
Rachel smiled and stood up. “You don’t have to be.” She said and laid a hand on my arm “You will fulfil all that; otherwise Athena would not have chosen you. You’ll see.”  
She took my hand and dragged me to the door.  
“And now let’s go to the dining pavilion, I have a feeling tonight’s sing-along will be great.”


End file.
